So many people helped make these songs, and each track has its own team working behind the scenes.
Every song feels like a puzzle, with different people fitting in their pieces—like Chris Gehringer, who handled the mastering, and Will Quinnell, who was always there to help out; Mark “Spike” Stent and Tom Elmhirst mixed the music, and a small crowd of assistant engineers (sometimes Matt, sometimes Koby, sometimes Bailey, and others) kept everything running smoothly. Recording engineers changed from track to track, with names like Daniel, Jack, Ian, and Fabiana popping up over and over, each one bringing their own flavor to the sound. Instruments were everywhere: Daniel and Jim-E Stack played bass and piano, Andrew Aged and Devonté Hynes jumped in with electric guitar, and Jim-E Stack seemed to be everywhere at once—on drums, keyboards, OP-1, programming, and even glockenspiel.
People sometimes forget how much teamwork is needed to make just one song.
When “Shapeshifter” came along, Jim-E Stack and Lorde produced it, while Andrew Aged, Ella, and James wrote the music and lyrics together; Rob Moose added strings and played viola and violin, and Gabriel Cabezas brought in the cello. For “Man of the Year,” Devonté Hynes played both bass and cello, Eli Teplin handled keyboards and piano, and the usual suspects (Jim-E Stack, Ella, and James) worked on the rest. “Favourite Daughter” had Andrew and Devonté on guitars, Eli and Devonté on synths, and Jim-E Stack doing programming and drum machine magic. Every track has Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor on vocals, her voice always front and center no matter how many other sounds are swirling around.
Fans think it’s kind of wild how many people can be behind a single song.
“Current Affairs” brought in Craig and David Harrisingh, Fabiana Palladino, and the rest of the crew, mixing up who wrote and played what, but still keeping Ella’s vocals and Jim-E Stack’s programming at the core. Then “Clearblue” closed out with familiar names—Ella, James, and Jim-E Stack—each doing what they do best, with the team always switching up but never missing a beat. Sometimes, reading credits feels like looking at a yearbook where everyone’s signatures are written in different colors and styles, all over the same page.
